In A Conference Call ...
... with reporters this afternoon, Gov. Ed Rendell provided some additional details on what could
happen if the U.S. Senate passes a $16 billion piece of legislation that provides education funding and a six-month extension in federal Medicaid assistance to states.

Three thousand teachers, 4,000 state employees and more than 5,000 county and municipal employees could lose their jobs if the bill fails, Rendell said. That's less than the 20,000 jobs that the administration originally projected, but it's still not good.

"We’re fighting to keep good jobs. We’re fighting to keep the economy rolling in the right direction," said Rendell, who appeared on the mid-afternoon conference call with U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter, a Democrat.

The U.S. Senate is slated to vote as early as Wednesday morning on a so-called "cloture" motion that would cut off debate on the bill and allow a final vote. Boxer told reporters that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., was "optimistic" that he'd secured the 60 votes needed to pass the motion, but she didn't offer guarantees.

If approved, the bill would offer about 70 percent of the support it originally provided to states. For Pennsylvania, that's about $595 million, down from the original, anticipated amount of $850 million.

Republicans had resisted the bill because it added to the federal deficit. Democratic supporters say the revised version of the bill before the Senate tomorrow is fully paid for through a combination of spending cuts and "closing tax loopholes," Boxer said.

"It's tough to understand why any [Republican] colleague would not support it," Boxer said.

Rendell argued much the same, pointing out that states across the nation had balanced their budgets on the assumption of federal money from Washington. Legislative Republicans in Pennsylvania roundly criticized the administration for such rosy thinking.

"We are looking at very real possibility that governors across this country will have to to extend cuts made in education system and that means fewer teachers in classrooms. That’s one of the sad consquences of this," Ritter, of Colorado, said.

Rendell said he's based his lay-off scenarios on the loss of $850 million. If the bill comes in at $250 million less, "we'll go back to the drawing board." Rendell said he'd meet with legislative leaders next week to talk about those plans.

If the bill fails, Rendell said he'll immediately begin moving money into so-called "budgetary reserves" to hedge against the lost federal cash. Lay-offs would come in the first or second week of September, he said.